


Hand in hand around the Sacred Fire

by fpalcantara10



Category: Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:22:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23291653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fpalcantara10/pseuds/fpalcantara10
Summary: The great day that Aman Tripathi and Kartik Singh had dreamed of, finally came.
Relationships: Kartik Singh/Aman Tripathi
Comments: 17
Kudos: 38





	1. A family hug

**Author's Note:**

> An idea that came to my mind and that I would like to share.
> 
> In advance, I beg your pardon for any mistakes I may have made when writing in English. I am Brazilian, and translating some expressions from the Portuguese / Brazilian language into English without leaving the context is a little difficult.
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading this fic, just as I am enjoying writing it.

The great day that Aman Tripathi and Kartik Singh had dreamed of, finally came.

Aman Tripathi and Kartik Singh were finally going to get married. Really get married. With the blessing of all the family and friends of Aman and Kartik.

Everyone had woken up very early that morning... In fact, no one had been able to sleep properly the night before. 

Mainly Kartik and Aman.

The family kept them staying in separate rooms that week before the wedding. Everyone had decided to stick to the tradition so they couldn't sleep together before the ceremony, (even though they've both been doing it always). Aman replied, but Kartik was so happy with all the preparations that Aman gave in.

The courtyard of the Tripathi home was so extremely clean and beautifully decorated with many fabrics and flowers, all in different colors: red, yellow, green, orange, pink. The air smelled of incense and small lamps, almost the size of fireflies, were hanging around the golden curtains of the altar where the ceremony will take place at night.

"Aman!" - Goggle knocked on the door of her cousin's room. - "Come on, get up. Aunt Sunaina has already prepared her herbal bath. Come on, before the water gets cold."

Aman had been awake for some time, anxious. He grabbed a glass, a towel, his toothpaste and brush teeth and ran for the door.

"Has Kartik got up yet?" - Asked Aman, greeting his cousin with a hug and heading for the stairs that led to the courtyard.

Goggle rolled her eyes.

"As if he had managed to sleep. To be honest, he also didn't let me sleep."

Goggle was sharing the room with Kartik during that week.

"Why?" - Asked Aman, sitting on the rail of the wall, right after filling his glass with water from the tap that was there and start brushing his teeth.

"He kept talking about how anxious he is." - Goggle sat next to her cousin. - "That this is the best day of his life. That he wants to be the best companion you deserve to have."

Aman smiled. He still couldn't believe how lucky he is to have Kartik in his life and because his family accepted his mate, even after so much confusion.

"AMAN!" - Sunaina shouted, calling for her son. - "Come on! Come shower and then make offerings to the gods. Remember that you have a busy day."

Aman spat out the water, wiped his mouth on the towel and came down from the wall, handing his belongings over to Goggle so she could put them back in his room. He went down the stairs that led to the courtyard, going down the steps two at a time.

"Ready! Here I am." - Said Aman, asking his mother for the blessing, touching her feet and then giving her a kiss and a hug.

Sunaina looked happy, thought Aman. Yes, really happy. Which mother would not feel radiant seeing her child's happiness?

"Come on, my son." - She said, hugging Aman around the waist and guiding him to the back of the house.

"Where is Kartik?" - Asked Aman again, anxious to see his groom.

"He's up there with Champa. Champa is helping him with the herbal bath."

"I would like to see him." - Said Aman.

Sunaina smiled. She sensed her son's feeling.

"You will have all the time in the world to see and be with him. Just be a little more patient. And, "jaldee karo", come on. The tub is full of water and roses for your bath."

Aman's mother had not lied. Indeed, at the back of the house, there was a wooden tub filled with water, with varied flower petals on its surface, which gave an almost ethereal aspect to everything. Incense sticks, flowers and stones had been placed around the tub.

Aman took off his clothes, wearing only his underpants, which would make him immensely ashamed if there were more people there than his mother. He entered the tub slowly, the water was still warm, and sat down in the tub.

Sunaina approached and started washing her son's arms, hands, fingers, back and face, chanting songs and mantras that wished happiness, prosperity and harmony to the grooms. She poured perfumed water over her son's head and caused the smoke from the incense to travel through his body.

Aman had his eyes closed, saying his prayers to the gods, asking for peace, tranquility, happiness, love and harmony to Kartik and him and their family.

After the bathing ceremony, Sunaina helped Aman to wear fresh clothes for the next stages of the wedding.

"Now, go to the temple and take this fruits and flowers as an offering to the gods, asking for whatever you want for your wedding."

"Okay, maan." - Aman took the basket from his mother's hands, giving her a kiss on the cheek and receiving one on the forehead. - "Please, let Kartik know that I am looking forward to seeing him."

Sunaina nodded and motioned for him to hurry.

The family temple was nearby. The gods most worshiped by the Tripathi family, Vishnu, Lakshmi and Hanuman had their images there, very well maintained. Aman placed the basket under the altar, sat in the lotus position and began his prayers.

Some time passed, until Aman heard a throat clearing nearby and then opened his eyes, distracted.

It is his father.

"May I sit next to you?"

Aman nodded.

His relationship with Shankar Tripathi had greatly improved. Shankar had accepted his son, and his future son-in-law, but neither he nor the son had the time and privacy to talk openly about everything, alone, really alone, even without Kartik or Sunaina.

"Today is a beautiful day, don't you think?" - Shankar started talking, looking at the sky.

In fact, it was a beautiful day. The weather was very pleasant, calm.

"It is." - Aman agreed. - "There is not a cloud in the sky."

"It is a very auspicious day for a wedding." - Said Shankar.

Aman looked at him. For Aman it was still something different, and slightly strange, when his father said things like that. He was still getting used to those changes.

"Baaba, I..."

"Let me speak first, mera beta." - Shankar smiled, putting his hand on Aman's shoulder. - "Please."

Aman nodded.

"I must be honest to you and to myself. You know this is not the wedding I once dreamed of for you."

Aman was going to reply, but Shankar held out his hand asking him to wait.

"This is not the wedding I dreamed for you and I must say that I am very happy about it."

Aman raised an eyebrow, he didn´t understanding.

"Any wish I had for your wedding would be my wish, not yours. It would not bring you happiness, it would not bring happiness to any of us. You would live a life of lies, full of sadness, regrets and missing. Kartik would feel the same, I'm sure. Your wife would suffer from your absence, and your mother and I, your uncles and cousins, would suffer together. The regret of making you suffer would accompany me to death."

Shankar had tears in his eyes when he said those words, just as Aman had tears in his eyes when he heard them.

"Could you forgive that old father of yours who thought he knew what was best for you but, now, sees that the best for you is Kartik?"

Aman said nothing. He did not react for a few moments, until he got up from the floor and extended his hand to his father.

Shankar took his son's hand, who lifted him off the floor to give him the most affectionate, strongest and most sincere hug that they had ever given each other.

"Of course, I forgave you, baaba." - Both were now crying. - "Ever."

They held each other for a while, until they were startled by the sound of a sob.

They both turned to see Sunaina and Kartik, (Kartik's head resting on Sunaina's shoulder), standing nearby, watching them. Both were crying.

Shankar and Aman smiled when they saw them.

"Hey, you two." - Said Shankar. - "Why don't you, both, join us?"

Sunaina and Kartik ran towards them, forming a big hug.

"Vaah!!" - Shouted Kartik, who did not know whether to laugh or cry. - "Family hug."

Everyone laughed, and the hearts of Aman and Kartik seemed to inflate. Both had no idea, until that moment, how happy someone could be when they were accepted and loved by loved ones.


	2. What better way to praise the gods and goddesses than by showing them how much two people love each other?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! How are you, my friends? I'm back, posting the 2nd chapter of this fic and I must say that I'm really very happy for your comments. You, all, are encouraging me to continue writing. Again, I beg your pardon for any idiomatic errors I may have made while writing in English. I have reviewed my writing several times, but even so, there may be some errors. That said, I hope you all have fun reading this Karman continuation.

"Hey, you guys!" - Aman, Kartik, Sunaina and Shankar looked over the wall where Goggle was looking at them. - "That was beautiful, but we need you here. Everything is ready for Graha Shanti."

Graha Shanti is a ritual designed to bring peace, prosperity and happiness to the couple. The grooms are massaged with scented oils and halad, a mixture of saffron, oil and water to bless them.

"We're on our way, Goggle." - Sunaina replied, adjusting her sari and taking Shankar's hand.

"We will be there shortly." - Said Aman, also holding Kartik's hand. - "Kartik has not yet made his requests to the gods and..."

"But, I did w…"

"Not with me, Kartik." - Aman gave Kartik's hand a little squeeze, signaling him to shut up.

"Oh, yes, yes." - Kartik gave his most innocent smile to his future in-laws. - "Please, we will not be late."

Shankar and Sunaina looked at each other, suspicious.

"I can stay and wait for you, both, to finish yours requests." - Said Shankar, letting his wife's hand and crossing his arms.

Sunaina sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Shankar Tripathi, please. They just want to place their orders." - She gave her husband her arm. - "Let's go."

Before the couple left, (Shankar being lightly dragged by his wife), Sunaina looked back, winking at her son and her future son-in-law.

"You both, don't delay!" - Aman and Kartik heard Shankar scream when they left the couple's sight.

Aman, still holding his groom's hand, ran, pulling him together behind the temple and leaning the tallest one against the wall.

"This ceremony will take a long time to happen." - He began to speak, hugging the tallest man by the waist.

"Are you crazy?" - Asked Kartik, wide-eyed. - "Your father will be here soon if we..."

"I need your touch, idiot." - Said Aman, taking Kartik's hands and putting them around his neck and returning his hands to his groom's waist, bringing them together.

Kartik laughed.

"It reminds me of a certain day, on a train trip, when you…"

Aman caused Kartik to shut up, giving him a kiss on the mouth. (He had to raise his feet for this, as always).

"Just shut up and let's enjoy this break. Kiss Me. Now."

Kartik thought of nothing else and kissed his groom with all the desire he is feeling at that moment.

Both had no idea how much time they spent there, amid kisses and laughter. When they are together, they forget the rest.

"You both are lucky that I am the one to come here to look for you, boys."

Goggle had her arms crossed, staring at them.

Aman and Kartik stopped the kiss,but they didn't move away from each other. They had no more reason to hide anything. Especially in front of Goggle.

"Are we too late?" - Aman asked to his cousin.

"So late that we had to make another bowl full of halad."

Kartik opened his eyes wide and it was his turn to take the groom by the hand and give to his future cousin his free arm.

"You see, Aman." - Kartik is running at a stride. - "What will my in-laws will think?"

Aman and Google laughed.

"They thought that our way of saluting the gods is showing them how much we both love each other."

Kartik rolled his eyes.

The three arrived in the courtyard, out of breath cause the little run.

The place is full of people. In addition to the whole Tripathi family, there were also friends, neighbors and onlookers.

"Did you, both, place your orders?" - Asked Sunaina, with a small smile on her lips.

"Oh, y-yes. W-we did it." - Kartik stammered looking at Shankar still with arms crossed.

"Well, come, boys, sit here." - Called Champa, Aman's aunt and future Kartik's aunt, pointing to two benches in the center of the courtyard. The floor was lined with red, yellow and pink flower petals. - "And you both get ready to get really grimy."

They both sat down on the designated benches. Someone had put on a song to play, a song by Mr. Ayushmann Khurrana, who Aman noticed, was very similar to his fiance.

But he didn't have time to discuss this with Kartik, because as soon as they sat down, the family came, each member of the Tripathi's family, with a little bowl of halad, started to pass the thick and sticky mixture, with a strong and pleasant odor over their faces, their arms, legs, hair. After them came neighbors and friends. 

Even Kusum appeared.

She smiled at the couple while pass the mixture on their faces.

"May happiness be with you, boys." - She wished and, turning to Kartik, she asked. - "No hard feelings between us?"

Kartik smiled.

"If you hadn't run, I wouldn't be here now. How can I resent you, Kusum?"

Saying this, Kartik took some of the halad on his own face and rubbed it on Kusum's face.

"So that you have luck and happiness." - He said.

Aman was overjoyed watching the scene. 

Then he had an idea.

"Kusum, since kartik invited Goggle to help him with the delivery of the garland exchange, wouldn't you like to help me?"

A person who gives the wedding garlands to the grooms to exchange, putting them around each other's necks, was a very special task, requested only for the closest and dearest friends.

Kusum was speechless.

Simply, not bothering to get dirty any more, she hugged Aman fondly.

"Nothing would make me happier. I will be there."

And happy, she whirled away, her trademark of acting.

"Did I ever tell you how much I love you?" - whispered Kartik in Aman's ear.

"Just in case, tell me again." - Asked Amam.

"I love you, Aman Tripathi, future Mr. Aman Tripathi Singh."

"And I love you, future Mr. Kartik Singh Tripathi. I would love to kiss you now, but we can leave it for later."

Kartik smiled and whispered even lower.

"We will have all the time in the world for that and more. Our time. In our private world."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed and had fun reading this crazy fic, lol.
> 
> I am having a little difficulty in dividing my time to reconcile the writing of this fic and perform the tasks that my college's professors are sending home due to Covid-19, but I promise to try my best to update this fic as soon as possible. 
> 
> Hugs to you all!


	3. Marriage promises engraved on the skin and in the heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. How are you, guys? I got some free time from college activities and work, to write a short Kartik's chapter. Hope you, guys, like it.
> 
> Please, stay at home, guys, and take all necessary precautions against Covid-19. Hugs from Brazil!

After the Graha Shanti ceremony has ended, it is time for another bath, now for the preparation and making of Mehndi; body art, which consisted of drawing auspicious symbols on the skin of grooms and guests at a wedding.

"I always thought it was beautiful when I saw brides and grooms adorned with henna on television, or at temples." - Said Kartik, next to Amam and the members of the Tripathi family. - "I always dreamed of having something like that one day."

Aman stroked his fiancé's hair with his free hand, as his other hand being adorned with beautiful hand-made arabesques.

"You will have this and much more. - Aman replied, being accompanied by the slightly embarrassing sounds that his relatives made when he heard those words come out of his mouth.

Everyone knew, among the Tripathi, neighbors and close friends, how difficult for Aman to say something that had something to do with his innermost feelings. But when it came to Kartik, Aman seemed to transform himself into someone else. From a somewhat introspective and silent young man to a determined man who had all the love in the world to give and receive.

Kartik smiled, just looking away from Aman's eyes to look at the designs that were being made on his fiancé's skin. Intricate designs identical to those that the Mehndi artisan had made on his skin.

Each new design, each new symbol made, reminded Kartik of when he was younger, when he was sure that he was different from the other boys his age, when he thought he could never be with someone.

He remembered when his father saw him, lying on the living room floor, watching a movie about soul mates. His father, an uneducated and extremely prejudiced blacksmith, did not understand what love really is. He and Kartik's mother had not married for love, but for lack of better options, and a few years after Kartik was born, his mother left, returning to the village where she was from. Kartik could not return with her, his life was in the city, the school, and, by tradition, he had to stay with his father, so he saw his mother only a few times during the year.

It moved him, the separation from his parents, he perceived himself differently, all at the same time. He could only distract his own mind when he was in front of the TV, watching Mr. Shahrukh Khan, or love films by some great Bollywood actress.

When his father arrived from work at the smithy, and saw his son watching "movies like that", as he himself said, he did not think twice. He took his son by the collar of shirt and gave him a beating, and each slap he gave his son said things like "My son doesn't watch love movies", "My son doesn't care about things like that".

That day, Kartik went to sleep crying, but promised that he would never be like his father wanted him to be.

Aman looked at Kartik's face as he watched him being adorned with henna. Aman could tell by the look of the groom how important and meaningful it to him.

Aman had always been a practical and objective person. When he perceived himself as gay, he always avoided contact with anyone, whether a man, to have someone to have his first life experiences with, or even with women, to try not to be like he was. No. He avoided everything and everyone. He always thought of himself as a person to whom love would never be offered. He lived for his family, for the happiness of his family, leaving any of his own desires aside.

And now, there he is. Preparing for his own wedding, with the man he loves, with the man he sure wants spends the rest of his life with.

"Ready!" - Said the artisan, finishing a last arabesque at the base of Aman's thumb.

Kartik took Aman's hands very carefully and compared the drawings of the groom's hands with those of his own. The intricate and beautiful designs contrasted with their skin. Symbols that symbolized love, affection, happiness, prosperity.

"What did you think, boys?" - Asked the artisan. - "I can make some more drawings, if you,both, want."

Kartik looked again at his own hands and again at Aman's.

"Could you lend me the henna?" - He asked.

The artisan, confused, waved, and handed the henna tube to Kartik.

The whole family, friends and neighbors stopped to watch.

"My baby", - Kartik, speaking, while he slid the henna tube against Aman's palm, - "you already know that my heart is entirely yours, but I want that certainty to be marked on your skin, in the palm of your hand, to represent how much I belong to you and only you. Forever."

He drew a heart on the palm of Aman and, inside the heart, his name.

Aman smiled, with tears in his eyes. Everyone present, watching that scene, as also moved.

Aman took the henna tube from Kartik's hand and placed it against the back of the groom's right hand, where there a minimal scar, difficult to see, except for Aman, who knows every millimeter of Kartik's body.

"That scar that is marked on your skin, coming from one of the beatings", - said Aman, drawing his own name, - "will be erased and forgotten, along with all the suffering you went through for being who you are for real and, through my name written on your skin, I promise that."

Kartik hugged Aman tightly, crying copiously, amid the applause of everyone present.

They both knew that together they could leave behind everything that had hurt them, both physically and emotionally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter may have more language errors than the previous two chapters. I beg your pardon for that. I hurriedly wrote it so that the fic would still remain fresh in the minds of all of you. Hugs from Brazil!

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, I beg your pardon for the mistakes that I most likely made when writing this fic. 
> 
> Honestly, thank you for reading all this I wrote. I hope you enjoyed reading this first chapter. I have my mind open to suggestions, criticisms, praise (who knows?)
> 
> Your encouragement will help me to continue writing this fic.


End file.
